Thursday night we decided we should probably book our white water rafting and bungee jumping soon, so we went to the rental place to book and they basically said the best time to go is tomorrow morning for rafting and bungee in the afternoon. I was already freaked because I thought I would have had more time to mentally prepare myself. It all just happened so quickly. We had friends from our group that finally arrived into Queenstown so we wanted to calm our nerves and show them a good time! We just went out to various bars, but our night ended on the early side because of the early morning.
I went to bed around 2:00 AM and 7:00 AM came way too quickly! My first thought waking up was "I just went to bed" and my second thought waking up was "Holy crap I'm going to die today". We walked to the bus stop and boarded the bus to head down to the rapids for white water rafting. The bus ride was actually the scariest part of my day. It was about a 30 minute bus ride through the mountains on a old mining road that was tiny and it was as big bus with a trailer carrying two rafts. The mountain went straight down too, no need for seat belts. If we crashed we would fall to our death anyway. I felt uneasy and unsafe the whole way down. We finally made it to the rapids and, if you can believe it, the level 5 rapids were the most relaxing part of my whole day. It was a lot of fun and we all looked so attractive in our wet suits and helmets. They had about 6 different rapids down the river and each rapid had a different name. One of the rapids is only 4 months old and formed after the last hurricane. They call it After Shock which was probably the best rapid there. One was named Jaws and the one after was named sequel. They described it as the movie is awesome, but the sequel is less intense. There was one named Holy Shit, one named Surprise and one named Toilet. They all fit their names perfectly!
Once we got done rafting, we had an hour for lunch and then headed to the bungee jump. When we were registering, they made us sign "toe tags" most likely to freak us out even more then we already were. The suited us up and sent us on our way to the bungee. The platform is suspended in the air between two cliffs on cables. All the boys go first because of weight. We had to jump heaviest to lightest. I was really angry because I wanted to be the first one to go. The anticipation is the worst part. I went out there with the boys, but then I still wasn't able to jump yet because there was another group of people coming out that were heavier then me too. They have to switch ropes for the next weight class. So all the boys got to jump around the same time and then they had to send the boys back because there can't be too many people on the platform at once. Luckily, they allowed Eric to stay with me until my jump, which helped calm my nerves a bit. I finally was up to jump and everything went so fast I didn't even have time to think about it. The best advice I was given was to not think about it and make sure you just jump on 3 without hesitation. I did, and It was well worth it! The feeling felt amazing and the adrenaline rush is like a drug. I want to have that feeling again! The scariest part is when you fist jump off it feels like there is no rope attached and I am just jumping to my death. I don't think I was able to breath until I was back up onto the platform. The recoil was pretty sweet because I couldn't tell which direction I was facing. After you jump and you are just hanging there upside down, you have to pull your foot cord to release your feet so that you can sit in an upright position while they pull you up. A lot of people weren't able to get the foot cord pulled, so they were pulled up upside down. One guy told me it felt like he was a pig in the slaughter house. That was one of my fears, that I wouldn't be able to pull my foot cord to release my feet. When I finally pulled it, it felt like I was releasing myself from the cord instead of just releasing my feet. I hung on to the foot cord for a bit just to make sure I didn't release myself from the cord. Riding back up was one of the coolest feelings. I just got to sit back and take in the scenery while I was pulled back up the cord. Hands down, one of the best experiences I've had! Still looking forward to the next adventure we have in store.
This is the cart we went out on to get to the platform.
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